I was the youngest of four boys as well. I can testify to the validity of your post, Jay. I did once get a great shirt as a hand-me-down though, but most of the stuff was out-of-date and awful. I did survive, however.

YOU CITY KIDS DON'T KNOW WHAT US FARM KIDS DID FOR CLOTHES. CHICKEN FEED CAME IN 100 POUND SACKS OF DIFFERENT COLORS LIKE CLOTH IN A MODERN DAY FABRIC STORE. THE WOMEN ALWAYS BOUGHT THE FEED TO GET THE COLORS THEY WANTED. THEY MADE DRESSES TABLE CLOTHS CURTAINS AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON MOM MADE MY SHIRTS OUT OF THEM, AND I THOUGHT MY SHIRTS WERE BETTER THAN THE RICH KIDS STORE BOUGHT SHIRTS. IF YOU WANTED A BLOODY NOSE AND A BLACK EYE, JUST MAKE FUN OF MY SHIRT.

My mother the seamstress made lots of "pinafores" for my female cousins for Christmas. As they were mostly my age, when it came to making them the right length, guess who had to wear those damn dresses while she hemmed them up???????

I had to stand on the kitchen table while she finished them. Of course my older brother stood off to the side and made faces and remarks all the time I was in a dress. This also caused me to wail and cry but to no avail.

I was the recipient of many articles of clothing and toys. Maybe that is partly why I like old things. Mom even had trouble remembering who was who during hectic times. I learned to answer to Bill...Bob. Rich

I was very glad to get hand-me-downs. I had an older cousin whose folks were much better off than we were and the clothes that were handed down to me from them were a whole lot better than anything I got new from my folks! I also got his old bicycles and at the time that meant a lot more to me than clothes!